High-quality color graphics for your mechatronic creation are just a serial port away. Microchip’s new P32MX microcontrollers have six serial ports to choose from. This month we’ll use one of them to drive a 4D Labs ?OLED-128-G1 Display Module.

Columns

GeerHeadby David GeerArtificial Intelligence Brings Humanoid Robots to Life (Part Deux)
It is not so much the practicality of humanoid robots that drives interest in their development as it is the familiarity, sources say. “People are interested in things that are anthropomorphic. This makes interaction with [humanoid] robots easier,” says James J. Kuffner, PhD, associate professor of the Robotics Institute at the School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University.

Then and Nowby Tom CarrollA Brief Look at Service Robots
Let’s look at the service category, which can include sub-categories of personal and consumer robots (toys, vacuum cleaner robots, etc.), military and defense robots, security robots, academic and research robots, healthcare and hospital robots, and a vast array of remotely-operated vehicles.

Combat Zone

First and foremost is lathe safety. You are working around very fast rotational parts with high torque. Please be aware of your surroundings, and remove all jewelry, long sleeves, and anything hanging that could stand a chance to get caught up in rotational parts.

Back in the November ‘09 issue, I ended the Hole Drilling story with a reference to sharpening drills. I have now purchased a Drill Doctor 750 sharpener and the results are surprising and worth sharing.

Mind/Iron

Modeling Elecraft’s modular approach to construction and maintenance of their electronic kits, this would be an excellent approach to robot building to ensure longevity of a product and to ease the burden of redesign.